Celiac disease (CD) affects 1% of the population. Its effect on healthcare cost, however, is barely understood. We estimated healthcare use and cost in CD, including their temporal relationship to diagnosis.
Through biopsy reports from Sweden's 28 pathology departments, we identified 40,951 prevalent patients with CD (villous atrophy) as of January 1, 2015, and 15,086 incident patients with CD diagnosed in 2008-2015, including 2,663 who underwent a follow-up biopsy to document mucosal healing. Each patient was compared with age- and sex-matched general population comparators (n = 187,542). Using nationwide health registers, we retrieved data on all inpatient and nonprimary outpatient care, prescribed diets, and drugs.
Compared with comparators, healthcare costs in 2015 were, on average, $1,075 (95% confidence interval, $864-1,278) higher in prevalent patients with CD aged